All posts tagged Crowdsourcing

A new academic study lends credence to the idea that the “wisdom of crowds” phenomenon applies not just to encyclopedia entries and restaurant reviews, but also to stock market predictions.

Researchers from City University of Hong Kong, Purdue University and Georgia Institute of Technology found that the tone of stock market opinion blogs published on investor forum SeekingAlpha.com predicted stock returns, as well as earnings surprises, above and beyond what was evident from Wall Street analyst reports and financial news articles. Read More »

A startup called Applause Inc., previously known as uTest, has raised $43 million to help businesses test their Web, mobile and desktop apps “on real devices in the hands of real consumers in actual markets,” rather than in a device laboratory or other limited setting, Chief Executive Doron Reuveni said.

Goldman Sachs led the Series E investment, joined by the company’s earlier investors including QuestMark Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Longworth Venture Partners, Egan-Managed Capital and Mesco Ltd. Valuation was not disclosed.

The new round brings the Boston startup’s total capital raised to $80 million.

Mr. Reuveni, a company co-founder, said Applause plans to use its new capital to open new international offices in Europe; initiate marketing campaigns to make sure its new brand name is well-known in the field; and to create additional app lifecycle management tools for developers, engineers and digital marketers.

The company has a global community of 100,000 software testing professionals around the world who can test apps for any device, including smartphones, connected cars and the new wave of wearable technologies and smart home devices, Mr. Reuveni said. Read More »

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